The execution was carried out on the balcony of the Banqueting House, Whitehall, on 30th January. The trial and execution of Charles I came at the end of the English Civil War, which had broken out in The cause of the war was Parliament's opposition to Charles's policies, including his unlawful demands for taxation. Charles and his Royalist supporters were defeated in , and the king was held in captivity while Parliament decided what to do next. Oliver Cromwell persuaded Parliament that by waging war on his people, Charles had committed an act of treason.
I would know by what authority, I mean lawful ; there are many unlawful authorities in the world;thieves and robbers by the high-ways Remember, I am your King, your lawful King, and what sins you bring upon your heads, and the judgement of God upon this land. Think well upon it, I say, think well upon it, before you go further from one sin to a greater I have a trust committed to me by God, byold and lawful descent, I will not betray it, to answer a new unlawful authority;therefore resolve me that, and you shall hear more of me.
I do stand more for the liberty of my people, than any here that come to be mypretended judges I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will standas much for the privilege of the House of Commons, rightly understood, asany man here whatsoever: I see no House of Lords here, that may constitutea Parliament Let me see a legal authority warranted by the Word of God,the Scriptures, or warranted by the constitutions of the Kingdom, and I will answer.
It is not a slight thing you are about. I am sworn to keep the peace, by that duty I owe to God and my country; and I will do it to the last breath of my body. And therefore ye shall do well to satisfy, first, God, and then the country, by what authority you do it. If you do it by an usurped authority, you cannot answer it; there is a God in Heaven, that will call you, and all that give you power, to account.
If it were only my own particular case, I would have satisfied myself with the protestation I made the last time I was here, against the legality of the Court, and that a King cannot be tried by any superior jurisdiction on earth: but it is not my case alone, it is the freedom and the liberty of the people of England; and do you pretend what you will, I stand more for their liberties. For if power without law, may make laws, may alter the fundamental laws of the Kingdom, I do not know what subject he is in England that can be sure of his life, or any thing that he calls his own.
I do not know the forms of law; I do know law and reason, though I am no lawyer professed: but I know as much law as any gentleman in England, and therefore, under favour, I do plead for the liberties of the people of England more than you do; and therefore if I should impose a belief upon any man without reasons given for it, it were unreasonable It was the liberty, freedom, and laws of the subject that ever I took — defended myself with arms.
I never took up arms against the people, but for the laws For the charge, I value it not a rush. It is the liberty of the people of England that I stand for. For me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before, I that am your King, that should be an example to all the people of England, for to uphold justice, to maintain the old laws, indeed I do not know how to do it. This many-a-day all things have been taken away from me, but that that I call more dear to me than my life, which is my conscience, and my honour: and if I had a respect to my life more than the peace of the Kingdom, and the liberty of the subject, certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self; for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly sentence, which I believe will pass upon me Now, sir, I conceive that an hasty sentence once passed, may sooner be repented of than recalled: and truly, the self-same desire that I have for the peace of the Kingdom, and the liberty of the subject, more than.
If I cannot get this liberty, I do protest, that these fair shows of liberty and peace are pure shows and that you will not hear your King. This we know now, the one tie, the one bond, is the bond of protection that is due from the sovereign; the other is the bond of subjection that is due from the subject.
Sir, if this bond be once broken, farewell sovereignty! These things may not be denied,. Whether you have been, as by your office you ought to be, a protector of England, or the destroyer of England, let all England judge, or all the world, that hath look'd upon it You disavow us as a Court; and therefore for you to address yourself to us, not acknowledging as a Court to judge of what you say, it is not to be permitted.
And truth is, all along, from the first time you were pleased to disavow disown us, the Court needed not to have heard you one word. Bradshaw refused to allow the King to speak in Court after sentence as a prisoner condemned was already dead in law , and the King was led away still protesting. To which charge, being read unto him as aforesaid, he, the said Charles Stuart, was required to give his answer, but he refused so to do; and upon Monday, the 22nd day of January instant, being again brought before this Court, and there required to answer directly to the said charge, he still refused so to do; whereupon his default and contumacy was entered; and the next day, being the third time brought before the Court, judgment was then prayed against him on the behalf of the people of England for his contumacy, and for the matters contained against him in the said charge, as taking the same for confessed, in regard of his refusing to answer thereto.
Yet notwithstanding this Court not willing to take advantage of his contempt did once more require him to answer to the said charge; but he again refused so to do; upon which his several defaults, this Court might justly have proceeded to judgment against him, both for his contumacy and the matters of the charge, taking the same for confessed as aforesaid. Yet nevertheless this Court, for its own clearer information and further satisfaction, have thought fit to examine witnesses upon oath, and take notice of other evidences, touching the matters contained in the said charge, which accordingly they have done.
For all which treasons and crimes this Court doth adjudge that he, the said Charles Stuart, as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of this nation, shall be put to death by the severing of his head from his body. Rushworth, viii. Gardiner, WHEREAS Charles Stuart, King of England, is, and standeth convicted, attainted, and condemned of high treason, and other high crimes; and sentence upon Saturday last was pronounced against him by this Court, to be put to death by the severing of his head from his body; of which sentence, execution vet remaineth to be done: these are therefore to will and require you to see the said sentence executed in the open street before Whitehall, upon the morrow, being the thirtieth day of this instant month of January, between the hours of ten in the morning and five in the afternoon of the same day, with full effect.
And for so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant. And these are to require all officers, soldiers, and others, the good people of this nation of England , to be assisting unto you in this service. Given under our hands and seals. The public was not allowed into the hall until after the charge had been read out. Why would the government do this if their case against Charles was good?
When the judgment of the court was announced, Charles finally started to defend himself. He was told that his chance had gone and the king of England was bundled out of the court by the guarding soldiers. Charles was executed on a Tuesday. It was a cold day. His last meal was bread and wine. However, there was a delay in his execution. The man who was to execute Charles refused to do it. So did others. Very quickly, another man and his assistant was found.
The final session of the trial was held on 27 January. Bradshaw's minute address to the prisoner asserted that even a king was subject to the law, and that the law proceeded from Parliament.
Furthermore, Charles Stuart had broken the sacred reciprocal bond between king and subject. By making war on his own people, he had forfeit his right to their allegiance. Declaring Charles guilty of the charges against him, Bradshaw ordered the sentence of death to be read out.
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